Agenda item

Motion A

Period Poverty

Proposer: Councillor Rossetti

Seconder: Councillor da Costa

Council notes:

• In June 2022, a Plan International UK survey found that nearly one in four girls in London were unable to afford period products since the start of the year;
• The charity found that girls across the country were cutting down on food and school spending in order to afford period products;
• An ActionAid 2022 survey showed that of those who have struggled to afford menstrual products in the last six months, 75% said they had prioritised spending money on food, 49% had prioritised gas/electric, and 31% prioritised fuel;
• Nearly half (46%) of those who struggled to afford sanitary products in the last six months kept sanitary pads or tampons in for longer than recommended or used toilet paper, and 10% doubled up their underwear; and women, girls and others who menstruate are at risk of Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) if they do not have access to clean period products;
• The Period Products Scheme for schools and colleges in England has provided free period products to all state maintained schools and 16-19 education organisations in England since 2020;
• Scotland was the first country in the world to make period products free for all;
• Councils such as Sutton, Southwark and Oxford have set up or agreed schemes to provide free period products.

Council believes:

• No-one should experience period poverty.

Council resolves:

• To provide free period products in all of the council’s public toilets and buildings including libraries and community centres, including all female, male, disabled and gender-neutral toilets;
• Where possible, to provide sustainable period products for free;
• To ensure there are sanitary waste bins in all of the council’s toilets;
• To regularly communicate to residents that free period products are available in council property;
• To monitor whether state-maintained schools and education institutions in Haringey participate in the UK government’s period product scheme;
• To call for the UK government to make period products free and available to all those who need them.

Motion B

Withdraw the Illegal Migration Bill

Proposer: Cllr Lucia das Neves, Cabinet Member for Health, Social Care, and Wellbeing

Seconder: Cllr Erdal Dogan

This Council is committed to defending the human rights of all our residents, and to fulfilling its public sector equality duty to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between different people.

The Council’s Welcome Strategy sets out our ambition to be an inclusive place: for people from all cultures, nationalities, and backgrounds, and to work closely with our communities and voluntary organisations to make Haringey a welcoming borough for everyone who wants to live and work here.

This Council notes that:

1)    The Government is bringing forward yet another immigration bill, at a time when there are currently no safe routes to the UK for the vast majority of those who seek asylum here, including those with family members in our communities.

2)    Arriving irregularly is often the only option for asylum seekers, yet the provisions of this Bill mean that they will never be allowed to access the asylum system. Instead, they will be left destitute, without the right to work and in legal limbo indefinitely.

3)    The Bill seeks to remove vital protections for children, victims of trafficking and those expecting a baby, meaning they could all face detention. Locking up children and people who are about to give birth represents a shocking rollback of human rights.

4)    This Bill is in direct opposition to the aims and ambitions of our Welcome Strategy, and breaches our human rights obligations.

5)    On 29 June 2023, the Court of Appeal ruled that it is unlawful to send asylum seekers to Rwanda to have their claims processed; this ruling calls into question the government’s whole illegal migration bill. However, government plans to appeal to the supreme court leaves asylum seekers in continued uncertainty about their future.

1)    This Council believes that: The Illegal Migration Bill, rips up fundamental tenets of international human rights law, and is an all-out assault on migrants’ rights.

This Council resolves to:

1)    Write to the Home Secretary and the Secretary of State for Levelling up, Housing and Communities to express the following: 

This Council calls on the Home Secretary to

a) Withdraw the Illegal Migration Bill

b) Commit to resourcing an asylum system that can deliver fair and timely asylum decisions

c) Invest in safe and good quality accommodation for asylum seekers and end the use of temporary, poor quality hotels and hostels 

This Council calls on the Home Secretary and the Secretary of State for Levelling up, Housing and

Communities to:

d)  open discussions now with local authorities about the best ways and

resources needed to provide good quality long term accommodation for all those in need, including asylum seekers, within our communities.

2)    Commit to defending the rights of all our communities to live side by side in dignity, to continuing to welcome those who make our borough their home, and to working with them so that we can all thrive together.

3)    Meet refugee and migrant communities in our area to discuss what more we can do to make them feel welcome here through the Welcome Advisory Board, in order to renew and refresh our Welcome Strategy

4)    Continue to work with all our communities to develop and publicise proper reporting mechanisms for hate crime and, with all our partners in our community safety, work to ensure that all reports are followed up and action taken.

5)    Raise a ‘Refugees Welcome’ banner in the borough.